Virological and epidemiological evidence of avian influenza virus infections among feral dogs in live poultry markets, China: A threat to human health?

摘要

Since its first detection in March 2013, the novel H7N9 avian influenza virus (AIV) has quicldy spread among poultry and people in China. As of 16 February 2014, a total of 348 laboratory-confirmed human H7N9 infections in China have been confirmed by the World Health Organization [1-3]. The H7N9 virus has spread widely with little sign of infection among poultry [4]. Epi-demiologic studies have identified poultry exposure as an important risk factor for human infections with H5N1 and H7N9, especially for those individuals associated with live poultry markets (LPMs) [5-8]. As dogs in China have been shown to be infected with AIVs, we sought to investigate whether dogs living in close proximity to LPMs and H7N9-affected farms might have been infected with the novel H7N9 virus or other influenza viruses. From August 2011 to August 2013, we studied a total of 2357 dogs that lived in close proximity to LPMs and poultry farms in the rural areas of Shanghai, Guangdong, Zhejiang, and Jiangsu provinces in China where novel H7N9 AIV had been previously detected (for Materials and Methods, see Supplementary Data).